On the southwest corner of Fort York Boulevard and Brunel Court - just west of where Spadina Avenue crosses the tracks south of Front Street - sits a crater.

A city block in size, surrounded by a two-metre chain-link fence, this crater boasts an expanse of clay and a pond. Thistle, clover and goldenrod bloom. The only visitors are butterflies and bumblebees.

Around the crater are signs CityPlace is trying to become a neighbourhood. On the northeast corner of Fort York and Brunel, at the base of a 35-storey condo tower, stands a new Sobeys. On the southeast corner, the Fox and Fiddle has opened at the base of a 43-storey tower. A few young men sat on the pub's patio the other day, watching young women walk by. A third tower houses a new Bank of Montreal.

West of the crater spreads the new Canoe Landing park.

Close to 20 years ago, Canadian National Railways transferred Block 31, as the crater is known, to the City of Toronto. The developer of CityPlace, Concord Adex, signed deals in 1994 to levy development charges to build, on this site, schools for the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic School Board, plus a community centre and daycare.

Developers have almost completed collecting $38.5-million in charges to pay for the schools.

Where the heck are the schools?

In 2005, Toronto turned Block 31 over to Toronto Community Housing, asking it to build the schools, a community centre, a daycare and affordable housing here. TCHC suggested a 43-storey subsidized-housing tower. The neighbours hated this. Plus TCHC can't afford it. So, in a report coming to the city's Executive Committee on Monday, TCH is giving Block 31 back to Toronto.

In six years TCHC has done diddlysquat with the crater. Oh, and they are also sending the city a bill for $1.5-million, for "soil and environmental testing, design development and project co-ordination of a rezoning application." The consultants got paid, but nobody got a school.

"That hole in the ground has been a constant dust bowl, and a bit of an eyesore," says Steve Kee, former spokesman for the TSX, an owner in the tower that houses the Fox and Fiddle and founding member of the CityPlace Residents Association. "I am having a little trouble under-standing the master plan."

In 2006, mulling his first bid for city council, Adam Vaughan warned me that, "We're creating condo buildings where you can start a family but you can't raise a family. We know that you end up with St. James Town in 20 years. It's a recipe for disaster."

TCHC is building 427 affordable rental homes on the east side of Bathurst Street, just west of Canoe Landing park, which opens next year. Some units will have four bedrooms. Kids are coming here. They will need a school.

At Canoe Landing park I met a nanny watching two one-year-olds, who squealed and played with little orange and blue balls on the astroturf. They live above Sobeys. They will need a school. A couple walked by pushing a baby in a stroller. I asked whether they want a school.

"I don't think we are going to be staying here that long," the father replied.

Asked about Block 31, Mr. Vaughan told me this week the city now wants to find a private developer who will build a tower (with some affordable units) plus schools and community centre. He added, "We aren't certain right now until we have a deal."

Sean Gadon, director of Toronto's affordable housing office, says, "There is a 6 1/2 or seven-year window [to build a school here] but nobody wants to test the edge of it." He adds: "It's regrettable that community facilities have not kept pace with the development of the community."

"Regrettable," understates the case. Private investors have poured in billions around here, and given us many millions for schools. And yet, we are not building schools. This may be a recipe for disaster.

BLOCK 31

Schools are proposed for a piece of land owned by the city of Toronto

pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com

City Place group marks first year by inviting new members﻿

City Place group marks first year by inviting new members

Steve Kee

The Bulletin - July 24, 2011

It takes years for a community to take shape—but one group of local residents hopes they can effectively steer and speed up this process.

While the year-old City Place Residents’ Association (CPRA) may not be well-known right now, the members intend to be a driving force for initiatives in the community for the future.

Bordered by Front St. to the north, Bathurst St. to the west, York St. to the east and Lakeshore to the south, the association has an ambitious agenda and is quickly taking action to make meaningful change in the community.

The biggest challenge, according to association president Dean Maher, is getting the word out to all the buildings in the area. “We have had success in finding residents who want to participate in our association from many of the buildings,” said Maher. “But we want to represent all residents, including owners and renters, and just getting the word out is a challenge.”

The goals of this association are to be a voice and advocate for residents of the City Place community, to foster an environment where residents feel connected to the community, to become a forum to engage residents and raise awareness on community activities, issues or concerns, and to work with elected city politicians on issues that impact the City Place community. Members are all volunteers: they discovered their common interests as neighbours and also with the help of some of the management teams at the various condominiums in the area.

As part of community efforts, the CPRA organized a community meeting with Metrolinx, where officials updated residents on construction and transit plans for the future. Also, the association is in regular contact with Adam Vaughan’s office and has met with him to discuss community issues. “We have great support from [his office],” added Maher. “They see us as an important, and future link, to the community and help us address area issues.”

Plans are to set up a meeting with the mayor’s office in the fall to discuss City Place’s importance within the Downtown core and make suggestions on how to make life for residents, visitors and business better in the area. As the community expands and buildings are completed, the voters’ list will expand substantially. “We have a chance to be a real voice and liaison between this growing community and city hall,” Maher added. “They will see our area as an important voting block in future elections.”

But the community has suffered some growing pains and keeping ahead of all the issues of a young community can be a full time job. CPRA members have advised the city on everything from traffic patterns to safety issues, security and even removal of graffiti in Canoe Landing Park and under the Spadina walking path west of the Rogers Centre.

“We recommended everything from adding crosswalks along the south side of Spadina Ave. connecting Bremner and Fort York to the placement of garbage containers,” added Maher. “This is a work in progress and we will continue to look for any, and all ways, to build on the area.”

Some of the items on the CPRA’s wish list include discussions over the creation of a dog park near Canoe Landing Park and potentially bringing in a farmer’s market to the area on weekends. “A community is a meeting place for people and anything we can do to increase interaction with the residents is welcome,” added Maher.

CPRA membership is open to all residents—renters or owners—living within its boundaries. Any resident can present ideas and volunteer. To learn more about the association, its mandate and members, visit www.cityplaceresidentsassociation.com.

The CPRA will be offering a special Blue Jays night promotion in August. Check the web site for details and a special code for discounts.

2011-07-24 13:41:59 ﻿

PR Disaster Burn Hot and Fast

Public relations

PR disasters burn hot and fast

augusta dwyer

Special to Globe and Mail Update

PublishedThursday, Apr. 21, 2011 5:00AM EDT

Last updatedWednesday, Jun. 01, 2011 1:37PM EDT

Whether it’s an environmental disaster or rumours of bedbugs, embarrassing news for business can travel at the speed of sound.

Today, every crisis has the potential to go viral on the Internet through social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

“If you think your problem might be contained within the walls of your office or your factory, people are talking on Twitter. That conversation is going to spring up there at some point,” said Amanda Laird, communications specialist at CNW Group. “Even something like an executive being charged.”

Recalling how a Twitter-born claim of bedbugs at one of the theatres hosting the Toronto International Film Festival was speedily scotched by co-director Cameron Bailey using the same website, a quick response is key, Ms. Laird added.

“Even when there isn’t anything new to say, you want to be providing updates because otherwise people are going to start filling in the blanks by themselves,” she said.

Preparing for a public relations nightmare could make the difference between coming through it relatively unscathed or with a business reputation in tatters, crisis management experts say.

“If you realize in your business model that consumers can either be hurt or impacted in some way, you have to set up your crisis manuals,” said Mat Wilcox a brand consultant based in Toronto.

You should always know “the basics, who is on the team and how to get them together at any time,” Ms. Wilcox says. Company decision-makers should be on the team, she said, and the smaller it is, the more efficient it will be.

Its members should think about and carry out practice runs, says Steve Kee of Steve Kee Communications. Because, he says, anything can happen. “You can sit around a table, you can do worst-case scenarios, and if you plan ‘ABC’ it goes off in a ‘D’ direction.”

So while companies can prepare, he added, “there’s nothing like actually being thrown into the fire to teach you how to handle a crisis.”

That’s a situation Dan Tisch, president of Toronto public relations agency Argyle Communications, is all too familiar with. His firm was working with the American Peanut Council in Canada when news of a salmonella outbreak in peanut butter prompted the largest food recall in U.S. history. The council did not have a public relations firm in the United States and asked Argyle to step in and manage. “It was sort of one those once-in-a-lifetime things,” says Mr. Tisch.

The company responsible for the 2009 outbreak was not even a Peanut Council member, and had not followed its standard practices. But from growers to shellers to retailers, the entire sector was tainted by association.

The council’s response needed honesty, candour and concern, said Mr. Tisch, “but also, fundamentally, on being pro-active, not letting others tell your story for you.”

He found that, unlike print media, broadcasters were presenting inaccurate information. Argyle countered by hiring a respected nutritionist and making her available to television. She was “someone the audience could relate to, who could speak honestly and effectively about what was happening, what was safe, what was not, and give mothers advice,” Mr. Tisch said.

Twitter was still in its infancy at the time, but the go-to resource for information for most consumers was still the Internet. Argyle created a website, complementing that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, offering information about peanut products not affected by the recall.

“We got an astonishing number of unique visits as a result of that tactic,” said Mr. Tisch, showing how important it is for companies to know exactly which channels customers are using to inform themselves.

Thanks to blogs, YouTube and Twitter, monitoring what customers are saying about your company is now both easier and more challenging. From Google alerts to TweetScan, any business can connect with customers and, said Ms. Wilcox, “have an early warning system if something goes sideways.”

Yet too many companies wait for an emergency before setting themselves up in social media, she added. “You really want to track what people are saying about you right now, establish a personality, if you will, in social media.”

Many companies also maintain so-called dark sites. They are designed to provide specific information about a series of potential problems, and they can be immediately activated when needed. A blog, meanwhile, may seem redundant if a business already has a website, but as a crisis evolves, it allows for quick updates and customer feedback.

“I don’t mean having a relationship with these people so that they like you,” he clarified, “but rather one where they know you, and you know them. They know you are a responsible company operating ethically, that if they have questions they know how to get in touch with you.”

When a crisis has blown over, it is still not time for a company to let its guard down. News cycles may be becoming shorter, but news stories live forever on the Internet.

Companies should “make the case for change,” Mr. Tisch said. “You’ve been through this significant crisis, your customers’ confidence has been shaken, but not fatally, so they’re waiting to find out what you’re going to do differently, what you’re going to do to make sure it’s not going to happen again,” he said.

Companies focused only on the short-tem financial impact of a crisis “are looking after the present but ignoring the future,” he said. “And the consequences of that can be a disaster.”

New CityPlace association represents 'significant voting block'﻿

Noel Kent, Dean Maher, Steve Kee, and Clayton Caverly want to provide a way for current CityPlace residents to have a say in their neighbourhood’s future planning and development.

The Bathurst Quay Neighbourhood Association, York Quay Neighbourhood Association and the Annex Residents’ Association are getting a new neighbour as the CityPlace Residents Association (CPRA) makes its official launch in the New Year.

Concord CityPlace currently consists of 6,500 suites in 20 high-rise, low-rise and townhouse buildings, with another eight buildings yet to be developed.

Upon completion, 15,000 people will be calling the area between Bathurst, Spadina, Front St. and Lakeshore home.

Recent council candidate Dean Maher, along with neighbours Steve Kee, Noel Kent and Clayton Caverly, want residents of Concord CityPlace to have a say in the future development of their neighbourhood.

“We are open to owners or renters but we want a sense of community. This is now becoming its own little community, and we feel that we want to be on the leading edge of that,” Kee, communications for CPRA and a Concord CityPlace condominium owner, told The Bulletin.

The CPRA want to address a number of neighbourhood concerns in an upcoming meeting—such as tackling the crippling effect of traffic, which is not only felt on a daily basis but is crushing during major events held at the Rogers Centre and the Metro Convention Centre.

Another significant concern for residents is the plan to build a 42-story affordable housing high-rise. Past meetings have proven that more information, input and an exchange of ideas is needed between residents and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). Previous public meetings have dissolved into shouting matches, the CPRA founders observe.

Being an equal player in the politically charged ring of city development will be no easy task: the association will have to establish a positive and powerful place between city hall, the developers and many other city services.

“If we are only a roadblock to prevent things from happening, then we will have no respect and the city will not come to us,” Kee pointed out. “If we’re seen as a strong representation of the community—this is where the phased in approach with the website and email take place to get people involved—we can then take the issues from there (the city) and present these issues back to the people.”

A stumbling block for CPRA will be getting the word to owners and renters in the area about the association and letting them know that everyone will have an input at the meetings.

“Generally the neighbourhood’s association is the link with city hall and we haven’t had that,” commented Caverly, one of the association’s founding members. “You know there are tens of thousands of residents in these towers now, and more still to come towards Bathurst. That’s a significant voting block and if we can get our act together it should have a significant voice in things that affect us.”

For information, visit www.cityplaceresidentsassociation.com.

2010-12-19 11:46:33

By ﻿

TSX may delay CEO decision﻿

TSX may delay CEO decision

Toronto Star

May 28, 2008

TSX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, said Wednesday its board may need more time to decide on a new chief executive, following a report that it is close to hiring former Chicago Board of Trade head Bernard Dan.

"The board process to select a new CEO is not complete, we have no deal with any candidate, and we do expect a decision ... on the new CEO before our (annual general meeting) on June 11," TSX spokesman Steve Kee said in an interview.

The TSX – which earlier this month closed its $1.08 billion ($1.09 billion) acquisition of derivatives market operator Montreal Exchange – had expected to make the announcement by the end of May.

Citing sources, the Globe and Mail newspaper said Wednesday that TSX was in talks with Dan, who stepped down from CBOT after it was bought last year by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings, now CME Group.

Kee would not comment on whether the TSX was looking beyond the current management team at the Toronto and Montreal exchanges. In a statement, the TSX called the report on Dan a "rumor".

In January, former TSX head Richard Nesbitt unexpectedly stepped down to become the chief executive of CIBC World Markets. The heir apparent was then Luc Bertrand, former head of Montreal Exchange.

Analysts see Bertrand as a good fit, and a good way to soften the blow in Quebec, where some saw the Montreal Exchange takeover as an affront by English Canada.

Another potential candidate for the top job is Rik Parkhill, an interim co-CEO and head of TSX markets, who Tuesday told Reuters: "It would be an honour to be considered."

﻿

Alberta Woman Kidnapped in Nigeria

Alberta woman kidnapped in Nigeria

CBC ONLINE

Last Updated: Monday, April 20, 2009 | 7:26 PM MT

Julie Ann Mulligan, shown here in a photo printed in a Rotary Club newsletter, is missing and presumed abducted in Nigeria.(Rotary Club)

A woman from Drayton Valley, Alta., has been reported missing and is presumed to have been kidnapped in Nigeria.

Julie Ann Mulligan, 45, was on a Rotary Club exchange to the West African country along with four other Rotary members from northern Alberta when she was abducted in the city of Kaduna on Thursday night.

A Nigerian police official said that Mulligan and another man were returning from a meeting when armed men in a car blocked their way and took her.

Kaduna was one of six Nigerian cities the group was visiting on its one-month trip, which started in early April.

Mulligan was team leader for the group and wrote an article about the upcoming trip for a Rotary Club newsletter.

"Having been in … Africa last fall, I am thrilled to go back," she wrote. "The African people have a way of climbing right into your heart."

Mulligan worked for Sun Life Financial. The company said the information they have about her situation is limited.

"Our thoughts are with the family, and we hope for a safe return," said Sun Life spokesperson Steve Kee.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lisa Monette would only confirm to CBC News that a Canadian is missing and presumed kidnapped in Nigeria.

The other people travelling with Mulligan were safely taken out of the Nigeria, said Ross Tyson, district governor of Rotary International.

﻿

TSX Outraged at Claim

TSX 'outraged' at claim

TORONTO -- The TSX Group Inc. is "outraged" at suggestions that a marriage with Montreal Exchange Inc. crumbled in recent weeks because officials in Toronto didn't want a Quebecer to head the merged stock exchange.

By The Vancouver Province October 12, 2007

TORONTO -- The TSX Group Inc. is "outraged" at suggestions that a marriage with Montreal Exchange Inc. crumbled in recent weeks because officials in Toronto didn't want a Quebecer to head the merged stock exchange.

"Those types of claims -- for lack of using a nastier word -- are outrageous," said TSX spokesman Steve Kee.

"I'm outraged. There are suggestions that we have a bias against Quebec, which is ludicrous," he added in response to a Radio-Canada television report, which quoted Quebec Finance Minister Monique Jerome-Forget.

According to the broadcaster, Jerome-Forget said there was a "blockage from Toronto" over whether Montreal Exchange head Luc Bertrand would sit as top boss at the new exchange.

The report named TSX chairman Wayne Fox as one of the people opposed to Bertrand's appointment.

"It could be a phenomenon we often see, in Toronto, to be a little arrogant vis-a-vis Montreal," Jerome-Forget said in the translated version of the Radio-Canada report.

The news report also quoted Michel Nadeau, executive director of the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations, saying: "Mr. Bertrand became the top senior executive [in the proposed merger] and, obviously, all the senior management of the TSX would have reported to him

. . . And it's possible that such a scenario did not suit certain people in Toronto."

Kee declined to comment on whether the two exchanges were close to a deal, which the Radio-Canada report said would have seen TSX president Richard Nesbitt become chairman of the merged entity.

Kee added that the Toronto exchange still plans to jump into the derivatives market -- Montreal's key business.

"We've been clear and consistent about our derivatives strategy, but that does not preclude an arrangement with Montreal," Kee said.

How some coped without their 'CrackBerry' fix

How some coped without their 'CrackBerry' fix

ROMA LUCIW

With files from reporters Tavia Grant and Tara Per

PublishedThursday, Apr. 19, 2007 11:34AM EDT

Last updatedTuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 10:41PM EDT

The business world's BlackBerry addicts found themselves going cold turkey on Tuesday night after the network behind the ubiquitous mobile e-mail devices broke down. Here's how some of them handled withdrawal.

Patricia Croft, vice-president at Phillips Hager & North, said she received a message from her tech department on Tuesday saying the service was down. But by 6 a.m. EDT yesterday, her BlackBerry was back in business. "We are so reliant on this technology. When I am on the GO train during my morning commute, everyone is on them. They have become a daily fix and for some people, a minute-by-minute fix."

By early yesterday, however, most people were able to satisfy their wireless e-mail compulsions, which have earned the device its "CrackBerry" nickname.

"I'm working fine," Toronto Stock Exchange spokesman Steve Kee said in an e-mail sent from his BlackBerry.

Mr. Kee, a self-described "addict," said he was unable to send a few e-mails from home at around 8 p.m. Tuesday night. Because the service occasionally hits dead spots in Toronto's suburbs, he thought nothing of it.

The snag did not affect the TSE's trading or systems, he said, but would certainly have been an irritant had the system been down yesterday morning. Mr. Kee, who constantly answers e-mails and takes calls from reporters, said he would have switched to using e-mail on his desktop. In case of emergencies, he also has his phone connected to a pager.

Research In Motion Ltd., based in Waterloo, Ont., has about eight million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide and, although the company is trying to reach out to the consumer market, the majority of its customers are business users. The technology has become thoroughly integrated into people's lives, and some lawyers, government workers, traders and emergency workers are dependent on them.

"I use my BlackBerry all the time, so it would have taken away from my mobility," Mr. Kee said.

"If it had been out for a long period of time, I would go through withdrawal."

Dimitri Soudas, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's press secretary, says he receives between 600 and 700 BlackBerry messages per day. He says his device only stopped working for a brief period early yesterday.

Tuesday's system failure was noted on Wall Street. It was mentioned yesterday morning by the chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Michael Cavanaugh, during a conference call about the company's earnings.

John Roderick of J. Roderick Inc., a public relations agency in New York, said he noticed at around 10:30 Tuesday night that he hadn't received an e-mail in three hours. "It seemed odd so I took the battery out a few times."

His BlackBerry was still not functioning on his way to the gym yesterday morning and as he headed into an 8:30 a.m. meeting in Long Island.

"It was frustrating," Mr. Roderick said. "I needed to know what was going on before that meeting. It makes me feel like I am juggling with one arm behind my back."

Mr. Roderick said his public relations firm does not have a contingency plan. "For me, this is a warning sign of the need for a backup system for communication," he said. "There are a lot of discussions that will come up around that."

Darren Meister, an associate professor of information systems at the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, said reliability is the main reason BlackBerrys have become so integral to people's lives.

"However, like any form of technology, the system can and will occasionally fail," he said. "This event should be a warning to users and [chief information officers] that backup plans need to be kept up to date as technology changes."

Many of the movers and shakers on Bay Street are addicted to their BlackBerrys and have trouble remembering how to function without them. Don Drummond, chief economist of Toronto-Dominion Bank, recalls what was supposed to be a relaxing round of golf at Pebble Beach in California during a junket for TD Securities Inc.

Everyone would "take a shot, and check their BlackBerry," he said.

TD Bank sent a message to its workers Tuesday night saying the BlackBerry service was having problems and might not be back on until yesterday morning, so Mr. Drummond turned his off. Maria Jones, a foreign exchange strategist at TD Securities, said she did not experience any problems.

Other users reported their little black e-mail boxes were buzzing again yesterday morning.

Steven Butler, director of foreign exchange at Scotia Capital Inc., said he noticed he couldn't receive or send e-mails right around 8 p.m. Tuesday night. He began communicating with colleagues in Asia and London the old-fashioned way -- by phone.

"It's funny how dependent we've become on these things," he said. "It's definitely a little frustrating."

He normally uses his BlackBerry from home, and on his way to work, to check his e-mail and look for market updates.

﻿

Alpha Aims for 20% of Canadian Stock Trading

Alpha Aims for 20% of Canadian Stock Trading (Update2)

By John Kipphoff - May 14, 2008 16:31 EDT

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Alpha Trading Systems, a new stock trading platform backed by Canada's biggest banks to compete with the Toronto Stock Exchange, expects to control a fifth of the country's equity trading market within its first year.

``I don't think that 20 percent should take us a year,'' Jos Schmitt, chief executive officer of the company developing Alpha, said at a presentation in Toronto late yesterday. ``We aim to be a substantive player.''

The platform preparing to compete with TSX Group Inc.'s Toronto Stock Exchange is co-owned by some of Canada's biggest financial institutions, including Royal Bank of Canada, the nation's largest bank, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the country's second-biggest retirement fund.

Alpha is on schedule to begin trading in September after choosing a management team and technology, and applying for regulatory clearance, said Schmitt, 45, the former chief executive of the Belgian Futures and Options Exchange, now part of NYSE Euronext.

Alpha is targeting computer traders using mathematical algorithms, who account for more than half of U.S. transactions, said Schmitt. Toronto-based Alpha will be able to compete with the incumbent Canadian platforms on transaction speed, price and execution to win a 20 percent market share, he said.

``Our objective is clearly beyond a few percent, beyond 10 percent, and with the backing and commitment of our founding partners, those figures are within reach,'' Schmitt said.

Market Share

TSX Group has about 98 percent of Canadian stock trading through the 147-year-old Toronto Stock Exchange and its TSX Venture Exchange. When Alpha was announced in 2007, TSX shares fell the most ever.

The Toronto-based company has lowered some fees and introduced a new trading engine this year to fend off competition. TSX Group is also looking for acquisitions following its C$1.08 billion ($1.06 billion) takeover this month of Montreal Exchange Inc., the owner of Canada's main derivatives market.

``TSX Group operates a fair, efficient and cost-competitive market place,'' said TSX Group spokesman Steve Kee in a phone interview today. ``We've made significant technology upgrades. We've positioned ourselves among the best markets in the world.''

Three alternative platforms began trading in Canada in the past year. Pure Trading, a venture owned by Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc., said in March that it had less than 1 percent of trading in ``senior'' Canadian equities after launching in September.

Exit of TSX CEO won't alter Montreal deal -- firms

Exit of TSX CEO won't alter Montreal deal -firms

TORONTO (Reuters) - The departure of TSX Group Inc <X.TO> Chief Executive Richard Nesbitt will not alter its planned C$1.3 billion ($1.3 billion) takeover of Montreal Exchange Inc <MXX.TO>, the operators of Canada's main exchanges said on Monday.

By ReutersJanuary 7, 2008

TORONTO (Reuters) - The departure of TSX Group Inc Chief Executive Richard Nesbitt will not alter its planned C$1.3 billion ($1.3 billion) takeover of Montreal Exchange Inc , the operators of Canada's main exchanges said on Monday.

Nesbitt was one of the main architects of the long-awaited deal for Montreal Exchange, unveiled a month ago. He will leave TSX Group on February 27 to become CEO of CIBC World Markets , starting February 28.

Nesbitt has been chief executive of TSX Group -- which runs the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange -- for the last four years and was to have become the CEO of the merged TMX Group Inc.

TSX Group didn't say who would replace Nesbitt, only that there would be "additional announcements regarding leadership," leaving the door open to Luc Bertrand, the current CEO of the Montreal Exchange, which specializes in derivatives trading.

Shares of the two companies were little changed on Monday afternoon, and spokesmen from each said the deal would proceed as planned.

"We're still moving ahead with business as usual, and working toward a deal," Steve Kee, TSX's director of communications, said in an interview.

Suggesting the timing is "strange," Montreal Exchange spokesman John Charles Robillard said: "Companies are making transactions independent of individuals, and that's the way it should be."

Bertrand was to become the No. 2 of TMX Group, to be based in Toronto, but he could now step into the top spot if the cash and stock deal is approved by Montreal Exchange shareholders next month.

Hanging over the deal is an investigation by the Quebec Securities Commission into possible insider trading in shares of Montreal Exchange prior to the deal's announcement.

That could complicate a plan that has drawn the ire of Quebec nationalists, who criticized the takeover of a flagship French-Canadian firm by one based in English-speaking Ontario.

"It would make sense from an operational, political and deal perspective for the TSX to appoint Luc Bertrand the new CEO," said John Aiken, an analyst at Dundee Securities.

"If that is the case, we see the likelihood of a transaction closing without regulatory issues slightly improved," he wrote in a research note.

Shares of Montreal Exchange edged down 15 Canadian cents, or 0.4 percent, to C$39.10 amid a broad decline on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The shares jumped 8 percent when the deal was announced on December 10.

TSX Group shares were down early but bounced back, rising 15 Canadian cents, or 0.3 percent, to C$52.00 by early Monday afternoon.

Nesbitt will replace Brian Shaw at subprime mortgage-hit CIBC as part of an executive overhaul that also saw Canada's fifth-biggest bank name a new chief financial officer.

The TSX's previous chief executive, Barbara Stymiest, also left the company for a job at a bank. She is chief operating officer of Royal Bank of Canada .